If you read anything on the Internet, you see large number all the time. Dictionary of Numbers helps try to put that information into a format you can better appreciate by relating that number to other things.

Like most Chrome extensions, when I first saw the Dictionary of Numbers I thought it was cute and moved on. Roughly a week later a friend of mine showed me examples of how it had actually proven useful throughout her day to day experiences on the web, so I decided to give it a try.

The extension exists in two use cases for Chrome. You can either enter a number directly into the extension in order to get a better grasp of a specific number, or you can allow it to completely take over Chrome and apply context to every number it can read from your browsing. You can pause or disable this second mode anytime, though in my personal experience I find it the more useful of the two modes.

The great thing about the Dictionary of Numbers extension is that it doesn’t interrupt most of your reading. As you see in our gallery, you get a little blurb of additional information and that’s it. In events where there are multiple options, you can hover over the text and see all available comparisons.

This extension breaks very few websites, usually only in situations where the numbers are in large font sizes so the added text extends beyond the intended area. Kickstarter is a good example of this, and in those cases the pause button makes it easy to quickly return to what you are doing.

Whether you intend to use it for a random information delivery service throughout your day to day browsing, or you find yourself in need of this service for practical reasons, this extension is great fun.